User:Beru7/Romanization proposal
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Romanization proposal
[edit]The proposed romanization system for Arabic is based on the qalam system with a few modifications. Reasons for this choice are:
- Transliteration of characters which have no equivalent in latin script are most of the time the ones that are already in use in the english press, books and atlases (for example, ش gives sh, خ gives kh etc.)
- The romanized result is easily typed on any latin keyboard, because it does not use any special characters. This is important because the volume of transliterations that have to be typed is high, and arabic entries already require typing in 2 different scripts at the minimum.
- It is easily read on a computer screen.
The modifications to the qalam system are, mainly:
- Diacritics are always transliterated
- ع gives 3 (widely used on the internet for transliterating that letter)
- ة gives a(t)
- the degree character ° is used to remove ambiguities such as between ش (gives sh) and سْه (which would give sh also). In the latter case, the correct transliteration is s°h (the ALA-LC system uses ′)
- 'alif madda transliterates to 'aa
- weak initial hamza (written ا) gives e
| Letter | Rom. | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ا | aa e | e is used when in initial position (the 'alif then represents a weak initial hamza) |
| ب | b | |
| ت | t or t° | use t° when transliterating ـتْهـ to avoid confusion with ث |
| ث | th | |
| ج | j g dj | j is always used for transliterating MSA. g or dj can be used for dialects |
| ح | H | |
| خ | kh | |
| د | d or d° | see ت for d° usage |
| ذ | dh | |
| ر | r | |
| ز | z | |
| س | s or s° | see ت for s° usage |
| ش | sh | |
| ص | S | |
| ض | D | |
| ط | T | |
| ظ | Z | |
| ع | 3 | |
| غ | gh | |
| ف | f | |
| ق | q ' g | q is always used for MSA. ' and g may be used for transliterating dialects |
| ك | k k° | see ت for k° usage |
| ل | l | |
| م | m | |
| ن | n | |
| ه | h | |
| و | w or uu | |
| ي | y or ii | |
| ء | ' | |
| ة | a(t) a at | isolated words should use a(t), words should either use a or at when in construct state. |
| Diacritics | ||
| ـَ | a | |
| ـُ | u | |
| ـِ | i | |
| ـً | an | |
| ـٌ | un | |
| ـٍ | in | |
| Long vowels and diphtongs | ||
| ا ى | aa | |
| آ | 'aa | |
| ـَو | aw oo | aw always used for MSA. oo for egyptian dialect |
| ـُو | uu | |
| ـَي | ay ee | ay always used for MSA. ee for egyptian dialect |
| ـِي | ii | |
- Hamzas are always written ' regardless of which letter they sit on
- Orthographic و and ا occuring at the end of certain verbs are not transliterated
- ال always gives el- regardless of elision and sun and moon letters rules
- To transliterate shadda, the concerned consonant is written twice.